Just a quickie: Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford has apologised to Wii U owners who were looking forward to the recently-canned Wii U version of Aliens: Colonial Marines.

Hopeless botch job Aliens: Colonial Marines has received another major patch on PS3 and Xbox 360, which promises to "better protect save data," fix "some" of the erratic Alien animations and generally polish the turd a little bit more.

If you're interested, patch notes are after the break (courtesy of a Gearbox community update).

Get Away From Her You Patch!

Gearbox have released a titanic 3.8GB patch for Aliens: Colonial Marines, which promises to sort it out. Tweaking everything from texture resolution to friendly AI, this monolithic update may have come too late to help with the frosty critical reception, but early adopters might want to take a look.

We've got the full patch notes below, which illustrate how shockingly incomplete Colonial Marines was at launch. More details in our 4/10 review.

The latest trailer for Aliens: Colonial Marines charts Hadley's Hope from concept art to in-game footage. It's a fascinating look into how meticulously authentic the anticipated shooter promises to be, but don't expect anything much in the way of Marine-on-Xenomorph action.

Gearbox has confirmed that the next piece of Borderlands 2 DLC will indeed be the rumoured Mr. Torgue's Campaign Of Carnage. There he is, look. Gosh.

And that's all we know thus far (release date and pricing TBA). Torgue is one of Borderlands 2's weapon manufacturers, whose weapons deal ruinous explosive damage, so this ought to be good for a laugh.

Gearbox have pushed out a Borderlands 2 title update to kill off a prevalent Xbox 360 version exploit.  Hackers were able to access an unfinished Hardcore Mode, which wouldn't have been a major problem but for the little fact that users would corrupt save files and badass ranks of anyone who accidentally joined them in-game.

Seeing as this is the only purpose of the latest update, it's clear that Gearbox treated the issue as their highest priority.

Gearbox: "Our Engineers Are Looking Into This"

Borderlands 2 is currently the top dog on gaming campus, but many gamers are reporting a nasty little bug that's spoiling one of the game's most compelling features.

The picture says it all, really (click to embiggen), but here's a quick roundup to justify my existence. Gearbox has announced that the Mechromancer DLC pack will release on October 16th, costing $9.99, 800 Microsoft Points or absolutely nothing for pre-order customers. You'll get a new character who can summon and control a powerful robotic guardian, with one of her skill trees designed to make the gunplay more accessible to newcomers.

Also, her name is Gaige.

Borderlands 2 releases on September 21st in Europe. Next Friday. Bring it.

Gearbox has announced that Aliens: Colonial Marines will tout a new gametype called Escape Mode that sees teams of marines desperately fleeing from an Alien Onslaught... but that's not all. Contrary to earlier statements, Colonial Marines will also include a number of playable female characters - including new squadmate Jennifer Redding in cooperative games or a selection of avatars in competitive multiplayer matches.

We've got all the details - and a trailer - below.

“Our Pokémon has evolved. It has different powers,” Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford told PAX attendees over the weekend, referring to Brothers In Arms: Furious 4. The rip-roaring FPS looked great when we previewed it last year, but outraged the fanbase due to its radical departure from authenticity and reality. Its absence from E3 and Gamescom 2012 also had us rather worried.

However, Gearbox has now confirmed that Furious 4 will be launching as a new IP, ditching the Brothers In Arms link in the process. Pitchford believes that doing so has allowed the design team to better experiment with new ideas, potentially resulting in a more imaginative game. They'll reveal more on September 15th. [via Kotaku]

Not sure what to make of this mysterious "Borderlands 2" thing that everyone keeps banging on about? Never fear: because hunter, scholar and gentleman John Hammerlock is on hand to give you a seven-minute long introduction to Gearbox's upcoming FPSRPG and the world of Pandora.

If you're as excited as we are about Borderlands 2, you should probably watch it anyway.

Need more coverage? We've got coverage. We've got all the coverage. For your consideration, our interview with Gearbox co-founder Brian Martel, Crumpocalypse preview, 2012 Assassin/Commando preview, two-part Borderlands 2 hands-on preview blowout and interview with art director Kevin Duc. Festivities begin on September 21st.

Borderlands 2's downloadable Mechromancer class will feature a skill tree designed to make shooting easier for less experienced players, but an ambiguous developer comment is raising some eyebrows across the internet.

"It's Got This Big Nasty Mouth!"

Gearbox Software are as excited as we are for Aliens: Colonial Marines, which CEO Randy Pitchford describes as a full-on sequel to Aliens. This new dev diary sheds some light on the Xenomorphs themselves, including hybrids and how they'll factor into gameplay. And their 'big nasty mouths.'

• What: Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition
• Where: Green Man Gaming
• Current Price: £4.98
• Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition PC price comparison
• Borderlands Review

Green Man Gaming are running a nice sub-£5 price for Borderlands' definitive edition, which includes all of the absolutely excellent DLC packs (and even the lame one, Underdome Riot). This will also net you 10% off Borderlands 2 (Steam code) if you pre-order on GMG.

All Systems Go For Mechromancer DLC

Borderlands 2 is now totally finished, Gearbox announced today, and has entered certification with platform holders. Now that the base game is out of their hands, Gearbox are free to focus on DLC, specifically the post-launch Mechromancer class.

We've long stopped trying to hide our excitement for Borderlands 2. Every time we preview it or interview key personnel, Gearbox's upcoming FPSRPG reveals new features, bigger guns and more insane characters. However, after getting to grips with a brand new build last week, we yearned to know more: how will the new persistent Badass Ranking system work? Will Borderlands 2 launch on Wii U? As much as anything, will we get a decent ending this time?!

So who better to ask than the co-founder of Gearbox, Chief Creative Officer and Borderlands 2 executive producer Brian Martel? Tracking him down in a pub close to the hands-on preview event, I proceeded to quiz him over a swift half.

Jonathan Lester (Dealspwn): When the original Borderlands was in development, a number of pundits and analysts reckoned that you were entirely mad - that you were "sending it to die." As it turned out, you kicked their asses: critics and players loved Borderlands. So, how does it feel to be working on the sequel?

Brian Martel (Gearbox): It feels amazing. Look, this is something that we're extremely passionate about. We love this franchise: it's a great world to play around in. We're shooter people at our core and we really love Role-Playing games, so mixing the two has been really fun.

2K Taking A "Wait And See" Approach

Gearbox believes that Borderlands 2 would be a "fantastic" fit for the Wii U, though publisher 2K will apparently be taking a "wait and see" approach when it comes to potentially porting the FPSRPG over to Nintendo's new console.

Finale Will Atone For "Tentacles And Disappointment"

According to Gearbox co-founder Brian Martel, Borderlands 2 will offer its players a "decent," "compelling reward" as an end-game finale - and Gearbox have learned some valuable lessons from the "tentacles and disappointment" of the original.

Borderlands 2 keeps getting better every time we see it. Barely a fortnight after showing off a new build at E3 2012, Gearbox turned up in London with an even newer, shinier one that showed off those promised PC features and resolutions to advantage. It's as crisp and colourful as it is thoroughly badass, but it turns out that our hour spent exploring the town of Sanctuary, customising our characters and collecting crumpets for an insane thirteen year old demolitions expert didn't give us much time to marvel at the graphics.

Before we even had time to sit down, however, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford had something new to show us. Borderlands 2 will feature a profile-specific metagame known as 'Badass Rankings,' which effectively allows players to level up right along with their characters. Everything you do, every challenge you complete, will gradually unlock Badass Ranks linked to your player profile - and in turn provides persistent stat boosts that will affect all of your classes regardless of their level. There's no Badass Rank level cap, so even players who've sunk hundreds of hours into the game and completed the campaign countless times will still be able to work towards becoming the ultimate Borderlands 2 player on the leaderboards. If you thought the original Borderlands was addictive, you ain't seen nothing yet.

Handsome Jack and his Hyperion corporation may have assumed dominance over Pandora (thanks mainly to their advanced repurposed technology and looming moon base), but the natives are getting restless. An armed resistance opposes the charismatic megalomaniac at every turn, led by none other than Roland, the soldier from the original game. Helped by Lillith and Mordekai, these so-called Crimson Raiders hunker down in the humble town of Sanctuary, which players will call home for much of the adventure.

Please be aware that the following preview contains some spoilers and so many crunk crumpets that it's going to be a crumpocalpse. Tiny Tina's words, not mine.

"People Are Going To Be Surprised"

We were slightly concerned when we noticed that Brothers In Arms: Furious 4 missed E3, leading us to speculate whether Gearbox's gung-ho WW2 shooter might have run into serious problems. However, according to outspoken Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford, the project has "evolved," and will 'surprise' us when it finally releases.

Which probably won't be in 2012, let's face it. More details below.